Rat Tail Tales

FWF Pictures presents a Sci-Fi/Fantasy film for Kazoo 48 2026 

https://youtu.be/_NU1H41RmbM (online after 4/23)

In an alternate world, every person has a rat tail choice to change their own fate.  These are the stories of how those fates intertwine.

LINE OF DIALOGUE: “No wonder mine has never worked”

CHARACTER: Someone who has unbelievably good luck

LOCATION: Car Interior

PROP: Scissors

It is that time of year again, I actually had 2 cool ideas the back of my head before genre's were assigned but neither made sense with the assigned elements.  We have done Sci Fi before but it has always been 1 special thing on top of today's world instead of a bunch of lore and junk.  This one at the behest of Jason had the lore and junk, and for the most part it worked out.  

Here is an AI assisted backstory that is not in the final film: 

And it came to pass that Adam and Eve did not partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The trial of wisdom was withheld, and the burden of choice was laid upon their descendants.

Unto every generation was given a sign — a strand of living color called the Roq Que, springing forth from the crown of the head like the tail of a rat, radiant and strange. And the Lord decreed: whosoever shall sever the Roq Que shall be granted but one moment to defy the will of Heaven and to alter the course of their own fate.

Thus was the covenant changed — no longer between God and all mankind, but between God and each soul alone. The bond of the Roq Que became the holiest of ties upon the earth, and many were consumed by its mystery, seeking in madness the meaning of their freedom.

I used a lot of AI in planning and making this.  Not with script but with formatting and some illustrative elements.  In a perfect world I would have replaced them all before final submission but this is not a perfect world and I am far from a perfect filmmaker.  It is a slippery slope and as one who is allergic to AI slop I plan to be on the restrained side of this tool.

I think watching this you can see echos of previous works, the culmination into a fight scene, the after credits stinger and rigid segments of the story.  If anything I cut dialogue back too much which was in part trying to eliminate LORE dumps, many things are unexplained and hopefully noticible but not distracting.  The mesh material that everyone is wearing, in my interpretation that is something to block out radiation.  The shiny parts on faces were to help communicate... although there is a reference to cellphones.  IDK it's all background.  Then there are the rat tails....

I think before this idea came around we were talking about vicetomies being used on men to block out more than sperm, maybe getting a wire cut to eliminate destructive behavior or a prelobotomy to make you more agreeable in society.  Thankfully it evolved from there and into something that was visually interesting and slightly memeable.  

Overall I'm happy with it, an efficient production that took ideas from a lot of people and was a great use of the limited time and resources we had.  I've really valued the week of iteration after the festival submission is complete, much happier with it now and got to continue the momentum from the 48 hour filming without the big deadline.  

It plays at the Kalamazoo 10 theater on 4/23, I think it deserves something but I have been proven wrong before...